Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an egg search code management method and an egg search code management system that assign an egg search code to an egg that is used to identify history information of the egg, and manage the assigned egg search code, in order to provide the history information of the egg in a traceability system.
Recently, traceability systems that provide a production and distribution history of eggs to a consumer who purchased the eggs are being implemented through a communication network such as the Internet.
In these traceability systems, the production and distribution history of an egg can be searched and browsed by making a code (the egg search code), to be used as a search key, that is printed on a container, such as a pack, in which the egg is contained.
A related example of a prior art traceability system that prints an egg search code on a container in which eggs are contained and provides the production and distribution history of the pertinent egg, based on the printed egg search code, is patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-344040.
In the conventional system described in patent document 1, mentioned above, it is impossible to print an entire egg search code on an egg since the content of the egg search code is determined according to predetermined information, and the number of digits of the egg search code can be very large. That is to say, the problem is that not all of the egg search code can be printed on the egg, when the number of code digits is large, since the printable area is limited when the code is printed directly on the egg.
Meanwhile, although it is possible to print a part of the egg search code on the egg, it is difficult to search the history information accurately based on such a partial egg search code.